


The Donor

by Dance_Elle_Dance



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Friendship, Humor, Pregnancy, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-18
Updated: 2015-08-18
Packaged: 2018-04-15 10:44:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4603812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dance_Elle_Dance/pseuds/Dance_Elle_Dance
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After realizing that her biological clock is ticking, Prentiss comes to Reid with a rather strange proposition. Everything else snowballs from there. (Originally posted on 4/13/10.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Donor

**Author's Note:**

> Re-post of an old Criminal Minds fanfic. ReidPrentiss is the pairing. The plot is slightly cliche and the naming of the child makes me cringe a little bit, but I remember enjoying writing this. Please enjoy!

_"Happy birthday, dear Emily, happy birthday to you!"_

There was clapping, cheering, happiness all around. People gave her presents, smiled at her, cut the cake for her, but Emily Prentiss wasn't too happy.

She had just turned forty-one.

Jack and Henry - along with their respective parents - were there, grinning and playing together. She felt her heart give a familiar lurch at the sight of the children. Morgan and Garcia held hands and JJ and Rossi stood close together, while Hotch and Reid smiled at her as she bit into a piece of cake that was mostly icing.

"Thanks, everyone. This is so nice…"

"No problem, Em." Garcia winked at her as Morgan kissed the crown of her forehead.

"We love you, girl." Morgan gave her his wolfish grin as Hotch scolded Jack for throwing cake at Henry.

"And I love you guys." Prentiss smiled, as she fooled with the silly party hat she had strapped to her.

Her chest began to tighten as her mind reminded her.

_Forty-one…forty-one…didn't you want a kid by this age? Didn't you want to **settle down** by this age?_

Reid looked at her, his eyes appraising her worriedly. He could always tell when something was wrong. He handed her a bowl of ice cream. "Here, cookies and cream. Your favorite, right?"

"You know me." Prentiss smiled as she bit into the cold treat.

But not even the feminine comfort of ice cream could ease the ache she felt.

_Tick, tick,_ her mind reminded her.

\---

Children.

Something Prentiss loved, adored, _wanted_ deeply, but could never find the time to have. Her job was time-consuming, after all. She wondered how JJ managed all the time with Henry.

The brunette profiler sighed as she leaned back into her chair, running a hand through her hair and she felt a familiar panging deep in her chest.

JJ was busy showing Garcia the most recent pictures of Henry. His birthday had passed recently, and the blondes were giggling and cooing at the cuteness of it all. Garcia rubbed her swelling belly and grinned, wondering what her child's first birthday would be like.

Yes, it was true. Garcia and Morgan were married after all this time, after a long, _long_ courting and flirting and other things. She was also pregnant with their first child. Prentiss had never seen the techie so happy in her life, and it filled her with insurmountable joy for her friend.

But, there was also an emptiness.

Something that Prentiss just couldn't put her finger on. It made her want to cry, almost.

_"Am I ever going to get a grandchild, Emily? Or even a son-in-law?"_

Her mother's words rang through her head and she smacked the back of her head against the chair she was seated in. It made a resounding clank as her skull connected with the wood. "Ugh."

"Something wrong?" JJ asked, her voice concerned and wondering.

Prentiss just smiled warmly at her and waved her hand. "Nothing. Nothing at all."

\---

It hit her that night, as she laid in the bed, staring up at the ceiling with tired, yet alert eyes.

Something like a lightning bolt shot through her and she sat up, as if electrocuted.

Her hair stood about her face, her eyes were wide with excitement - or if it was the crazed musings going about in her head, she didn't know.

All this time she was wondering how to get a husband so she could have a child.

But…

It had never occurred to her that she could bear a child without having intercourse.

Prentiss smiled, raising a hand to her chin, lack of sleep overwhelming her and making her feel extremely giddy with the prospect of her new idea. A thought occurred to her that she could wait, but…

_Tick, tick, tick,_ went the thrum of the biological clock playing in her ears.

"Screw it," she said aloud, flopping back on her bed with a _plop_ , wondering if she had become just as crazy as the people she profiled.

\---

The question was: who?

Who would she be able to ask? This was a very personal request, but when she looked at it a certain way, it was rather embarrassing. She could only wonder what her mother would say if she told her she had decided she was getting inseminated.

But… _who_?

She ran over the people in her mind. There were several people who she knew outside of work, but none that she knew well enough to consider her "baby daddy." So, she somehow found herself thinking about her colleagues.

Hotch? No, no, that wouldn't be an option. Not after everything he'd gone through in the past few months.

Morgan? Talk about out of her place. And, hello, he was _married_. Talk about creep-factor.

Rossi? She couldn't see him as the father of her child either.

That left only…

Reid.

She didn't want to admit that she had a small crush on him - okay, maybe not so small, but still - and that may have influenced her, but still. When she thought about it, he seemed a logical choice. He was smart, attractive, and a great guy. How could she go wrong?

Prentiss stared at him with intent as she watched him go through some files, and she felt a flutter move through her belly.

How would she ask him _that_?

\---

"Reid, can I talk to you?"

His large, doe-like, brown eyes gazed up at her. It was late at the BAU, only the two of them lingered there, plus a rather ragged looking Hotch milling about his office, and Prentiss thought this a good time as ever.

A smile curved his mouth. "Sure."

_Oh God, oh God…_ Prentiss thought as he moved over to her side of the desk, leaning over so his skinny tie grazed the wood beneath him.

_I can't do it now…not in our work place…what…what if someone overhears?_

Sweat rolled down Prentiss's brow and she sighed shakily. Reid looked at her with a curious expression, his hand resting on her shoulder softly. "Everything alright?"

"W-Will you go out to dinner with me?" she squeaked, and it was such an odd sound, coming from her lips.

He looked taken aback at first, but then his attractive mouth lifted into a friendly smile. "I'll be at your place at eight."

She watched his slender form as he walked away from her, and berated herself mentally for thinking such lewd thoughts when they weren't actually going to be _doing_ anything. But still, that didn't keep her mind from wandering.

Maybe this would be kind of easy?

Reid's foot hooked on the edge of a chair and he tripped, barely catching himself before his face connected with the edge of the desk. Prentiss slapped her forehead sharply, leaving a red mark on her pale skin.

Maybe not.

\---

The atmosphere was something out of a romantic movie.

Reid looked impeccable, as always, with messy bed hair - or as Prentiss imagined, sex hair - and his thin body in an immaculate dress jacket and tie, along with a pair of loosely hung jeans.

The question she asked him after a while of eating probably made more sense in a romantic _comedy_.

"Uh…I want to have a baby," she said, her eyes downcast at her empty plate. "Can I use…your little…um…swimmers?"

"You - you…" Reid stuttered not two seconds later. He was always a quick thinker. "You want my _sperm_?"

Prentiss nodded, her face red.

" _Now_?"

The brunette looked up at him and gave a shaky smile. "Well, no. We're in public."

"But…well, we could go in the bathroom - "

"No!" Prentiss shouted, looking at the genius with large eyes, frantic and panicking with every nerve and cell in her body. "No, no, not like that. Sometimes you're too literal…"

Reid looked at her with barely concealed wonder before realization dawned on his young face. " _Oh_. Like…like a donor."

Prentiss nodded.

"Sure, I could do that." Her heart fluttered as Reid said the very words that she thought would never leave his mouth. "No problem."

She wondered why he was so calm about this, but then he paled.

"I'm going to have to do it in a cup, aren't I?"

\---

Yes, Reid had to do "it" in a cup.

And no, it wasn't pretty.

\---

Prentiss sighed as she waited, waited, _waited_.

She left the little pregnancy stick on the counter as she walked back and forth.

It might not have been necessary, but she wanted to have the feeling of seeing the two lines on the test and to _know_ and feel that joy that came with it.

Five, four…

She looked at her watch.

Three, two…

She practically launched herself across the room and smiled when she picked up the pregnancy test. And, sure enough, two vertical lines adorned the screen.

She was going to have a baby.

The squeal she unleashed was enough to scare her neighbors into calling her own team to investigate the "psychological problems" of Emily Prentiss.

\---

"Something the matter, Reid?"

She caught the lanky profiler looking at her stomach with worried eyes, his eyes seemed to bore holes through and look at the very child itself. Her hands were resting maternally on her still-flat belly, and she looked at him with a smile that Reid could only explain as "loving."

"I was just wondering…"

"Yeah?" She hoped that he didn't regret giving her this one gift. It was enough to make her tear up at the very thought of Reid thinking he made a mistake by her.

"Will you let me be a part of the baby's life?" he blurted out, his voice caressing the question as if it were the baby itself. "It would make me feel a lot better if I could help out."

She felt tears in her eyes. She didn't know if it was because of the sincerity with which he asked the question or the pregnancy hormones - or maybe a combination of both, but it had a lot to do with Reid himself, she knew. Prentiss stood up and embraced him tightly, pressing herself flush against him.

Reid could only smile and place his lips on her hair, before his hands came to rest on her stomach, where their child now resided.

There was a fluttering in his stomach, and he didn't know it but Prentiss had the same reaction.

\---

Birthing classes, baby books, doctor's visits - Reid was there for them all. Through the good and the bad.

He even moved into her house to make sure he was with her when she had morning sickness or when she needed ice cream at all hours of the night or when she was more hormonal than any woman he had ever seen in his life.

So, when _the day_ came, he was certainly prepared.

"R-Reid…my water broke."

He fainted.

\---

After a few slaps, Reid had regained consciousness, and when Prentiss's pained grunts made him aware of what was really happening, he snapped into his determined mode. The set of his jaw resolved, and his eyes hardened with determination to get her to the hospital. There was a kindness to his eyes that had Prentiss's face flushing despite her current pains, but it was edged with a fierce look that was odd on the innocent face of the young genius.

He wheeled into the hospital, and for a moment Prentiss thought she would've died right then and there because she _swore_ that the car lifted so it was going on only two wheels.

He got her into a wheelchair and rushed her to the emergency room right by the birthing wing of the hospital.

"Hey! My…my…uh, _colleague_ is in labor! Help us!" Reid didn't know why he stumbled over that word, but he did. There was something more about their relationship that wasn't defined to just co-workers. It didn't do it justice…

They'd been through too much to be just simple co-workers.

\---

They wheeled Prentiss straight into the delivery room, almost in the blink of an eye her hand was absent from his, and his fingers throbbed from where her dainty ones had clutched at him.

He was alone, sitting out in the waiting room, sweat dewing on his brow as he looked down the hall where they took the brunette woman.

His heart throbbed in worry.

"Mr. Reid?" A nurse peeked her head around the corner, and his slim form rose, hands wringing together in a nervous manner. "She wants you in the room."

"…me?" He pointed to himself, his gaze quizzical.

The nurse nodded, and led Reid into the birthing room.

\---

There was screaming.

_Oh,_ there was screaming.

Bones breaking - the bones in his hands, that is.

Her fingers squeezed so tightly around his that he thought he would pass out from the pain.

But, of course, he tried to mention that and got a healthy glare from the female doctor and Prentiss herself.

Then, the screaming started up again.

\---

Screaming, and then…a laugh.

It was a hysterical sounding laugh. One mixed with joy and disbelief and utter _amazement_ at what just happened. Prentiss was crying - _the hormones_ , the nurse and doctor said simultaneously when Reid directed a look their way - and laughing and smiling and…

It was _beautiful._

The doctor smiled and cleaned the newborn off before wrapping it in a blanket. Smiling gently with her hazel eyes, she handed the child to Prentiss, saying, "Congratulations, it's a girl."

Prentiss looked down at the bundle in the blanket in her arms and a smile overwhelmed her, fresh tears making their way down her cheeks. She looked up at Reid and beamed at him, catching him off guard.

Neither of them had wanted to know the sex of the baby, and now that she was finally here, it was an overwhelming thing. Like this whole situation was.

Reid reached down and stroked the little girl's forehead with his slender index finger. He reached down and took one of her hands between his thumb and forefinger and did a little wave. "Hey, baby girl, I'm your dad."

Prentiss didn't even make the remark about him sounding a lot like Morgan at that. She just stared at the father of her baby and smiled, smiled, _smiled_.

Just looking at that smile made him do something as unexpected as this whole situation.

Leaning downward, he gleefully pressed his lips against hers in a chaste, meaningful kiss, something that held promises of the future within it.

\---

They named her Elizabeth Diana Prentiss-Reid, shortening it affectionately to 'Lizzie'.

It seemed to fit, that they'd combine both their mothers' names to christen their new baby girl.

She was a sweet, happy child. Adored by everyone at the BAU, and especially her parents, of course. She inherited Reid's large brown eyes and curiosity, as well as Prentiss's mop of dark, thick hair.

Lizzie smiled a lot, grinned, giggled, the things normal babies do.

Which includes _crying._

\---

Early one morning, at around two, Prentiss sighed as she flopped down on the bed, tired eyes grazing around the empty room. She had finally gotten Lizzie to sleep, and she was feeling the effects of sleep-deprivation herself.

Reid didn't sleep much, not even when the baby was asleep sometimes. Prentiss usually thought that had something to do with his job as a profiler taking its toll on him, but she hardly asked him what was wrong.

She was also surprised when he hadn't moved out after she'd given birth, but maybe she wasn't. After all, Reid was a gentleman, in his own right.

But, what she didn't expect was Reid entering her room, late at night, his hair in more disarray than usual, his eyes tired and wild at the same time.

"I want to be a part of her life," he voiced, his intellectual tone filled with emotion despite his appearance. "Hers, and yours."

Prentiss smiled weakly.

"You already are."

\---

Reid moved in with her permanently after that.

Their sleeping arrangements were just as odd after he decided to move in. Sometimes they'd find themselves slumped over the sink, barely awake. Other times, they'd find themselves snoozing exhaustedly in the same bed, little Lizzie laying on Reid's stomach as if he were a pillow.

Sometimes Reid would hold her hand in public.

And others, his lips would brush hers in kisses that reminded her of that day in the delivery room, when they had first come together.

\---

She doesn't remember when she fell in love with him, but she knew it was something that occurred fast and the very action of it all was overwhelming and severe.

He, on the other hand, knew that he had been in love with her for a while.

It was their first night without Lizzie - Garcia and Morgan had volunteered to baby sit - and they were more than a bit awkward around each other with no screaming baby to distract them from…thoughts.

The night that began in awkwardness ended with the two tangled nude together, sweating into the white sheets of her bed.

Panting, Reid curled his arm around the thin waist of the brunette.

His lips curved into a smile against the column of her neck and he chuckled.

"We should've done it that way the first time."

\---

Later that night, Prentiss found herself staring out the window, her eyes distant, but her mind far from that.

She watched as Reid pulled in breath easily, his face turned toward her, the dirty blonde-brown strands of hair falling carelessly in his face, and felt a tug at her heart. Something that she couldn't just will away. Something that bound her inexplicably to this man, something that wasn't _just_ about the child that shared both their names. Something that was in the very chemical makeup of her body, something that drew her to him like no other.

She brushed the hair from his face and gave a smile, one that she found her lips curving into a lot lately, and with good reason.

The brunette pressed her lips to Reid's forehead and breathed out, the fog of her exhalation fanning his face.

She pressed herself closer, reveling in the warmth that filled her heart at the closeness she shared with him.

Who would've thought that something as simple as her biological clock would lead to her having everything she ever wanted?

Reid wrapped his wiry arms subconsciously around her waist and snuggled closer.

She wasn't complaining.

Not at all.


End file.
